Once Mike had evaluated Donatello's injuries, he announced that they were not life threatening. Still, his brother was going to need bed rest for a week or so. I decided I would do the honors of caring for him.

However, Mike pretty much pushed me out of Don's room. Being overly tired and cranky, I was offended. I felt obligated to repay Don for the care he had given me.

So, I tried to strike a bargain with Mike.

"Look, Mike, you can't expect to take care of Donnie AND cook, too." I commented to him.

"Why not? I've done it before, Min." he stated as a matter-of-factly.

He grabbed up his nunchuks from Don's desk. I was standing right by the door and moved aside as he came out his brother's bedroom. Raph then went in to sit with Don, bringing with him a mug of hot steaming tea. I faintly detected a hint of lavender waft by as he passed me.

Putting my full attention back onto Mike, "Well, I'm going to go stir crazy around here unless I either cook and make my self useful, help Don, or visit topside!" I was quite adamant as I followed him; defiant and determined.

Mike paused and looked back at me. He didn't know how to respond to the way I was posturing myself with him. He worked the inside of his jaw like he was trying to decide which way to go with my request.

It was fast becoming clear to everyone. Mike had involuntarily assumed the role of Don as far as being my antagonist.

Raph was trying not to grin at his younger brother's predicament. He stood just inside his injured brother's car as he watched the proceedings.

Leo and Splinter had just gone into the kitchen to fix Don some tea. At least that's what I overheard them saying a moment earlier. I thought Raph had just done that? Hmmm…maybe the tea he carried into Don's room was for himself?

Anyway, as I made my statement, a weak but rather audible request was heard from the bedroom.

"Mike, let her cook." It was Don.

I felt bad that my confrontation with Mike had disturbed my 'doctor'. But evidently Don still did not want me to go outside or take care of him. I was hurt. Though he was incapacitated, he was still obviously pretty much in control of my movements.

If I knew how to get out of the sewers I would have attempted to do so when no one was looking. Well, maybe not since the thought of trudging through sewers didn't appeal to me. The 'alligator-in-the-sewer' myth kind of persuaded me to stay put. But there were moments…

Mike rolled his eyes and then mockingly said to no one in particular, "Fine. But don't blame me if we get food poisoning." and walked off towards his own quarters.

I stood there stunned. What was it he just accused me of? Did he just say I was a lousy cook? What nerve! I followed him and gave him a piece of my mind, meager as it was.

When I became upset there was no telling what would come out of my mouth. When I was tired and upset – well, let's just not go there, okay?

Before Mike could even get to his room, I angrily shot out,"Hey, Michelangelo! Who died and made you….Wolf-gang-Puck?"

He turned around to face me, but, I wasn't done, no siree. My tired self had a whole lot more to share with my orange-bandana friend.

"What makes you think I'd poison you? After all, Chef Boyardee, "Yep, I was steamed. I never called anyone names like that unless I was really pissed – and tired, "…I made you sandwiches and pizza when I was still living in my apartment. You never complained then and it looks to me like it didn't kill you either!"

Mike looked at me in surprise and offered a nervous grin, "I was only kidding, Min. Sheesh, you must have gotten up on the wrong side of the bed this morning."

It was still early morning. In fact, I was sure the sun wasn't even up yet. Plus, since they had brought Don back, I was too worked up to go back to bed.

I laughed sarcastically, "Oh, I see…so it's me, then. Just blame the woman, eh?"

Raph cautiously peered around the threshold of Don's compartment to watch the spectacle now ensuing just outside his own bedroom. Mike looked completely cornered. He turned towards his older brother with a look that screamed "Somebody help me, please!"

I was tired, cranky, and really upset with this whole notion of retribution against a seemingly dangerous organization. And my fragile mood was spilling over and onto the very ones who had been kinder to me than I deserved right now.

But I was disappointed that Splinter had put my friends' lives in jeopardy. To find out that Leo had actually killed someone was the kicker. And not just anyone but the one person who's death only guaranteed lethal rebuttals by his followers. It just plain frightened me.

I was starting to believe that maybe Jack had indeed tried to discourage my association with them by having me beaten up. What had I fallen into, I wondered?

I was overwhelmed by all the thoughts that were going on in my head. I was starting to get a headache. Rubbing my temples to try to relieve it, I mumbled a weak apology to Mike. I then went over to the couch to sit down.

Everything seemed so confusing and completely out of alignment to what I thought was normal. Okay, mutant turtles walking upright and talking wasn't exactly normal. But I didn't think it meant being in some kind of surreal Bruce Lee reality.

I sat on the couch and slumped forward with my head in my hands. Good grief, this was all starting to seem like such a bad dream.

Then I felt a gentle touch on my arm. Startled, I jerked back up and found myself staring nose to muzzle with Leo who was sitting next to me. I didn't even realize he had done so, either. My friends could be so stealthy sometimes. It was quite unnerving.

"Maybe you should get some rest, Min?" I heard him tell me gently.

He sounded so much like Splinter in that instant. The next thing I knew he was handing me a cup of lavender tea.

"No, no, I just had some, thanks." I mumbled sheepishly. I rubbed my temples some more. I was beginning to realize what a jerk I had been to Mikey.

Yeah, maybe I did need some sleep. I started to stand up to go to my room, but Leo gently pulled me back down.

"Please, drink this. It will make your headache go away." He insisted. Leo smiled slightly and I felt considerably ashamed with my previous behavior. I looked at the cup of tea and realized what he had just said.

By this time I was used to Don interpreting what was going on with me. I wasn't the least bit surprised by Leo's observant statement. Shrugging my shoulders, I took the cup from him.

"Thanks. Hope you're right. The headaches I get pretty much keep me miserable for days on end." I commented.

As I sipped I saw the faint smile grow on Leo's mouth. I wondered about that as I took down the tea. The liquid was warm, but not too much so. It went down quite easily.

Yep, I was tired all right. I could feel it in my bones and my eyelids seemed heavier than they were a moment ago.

I was halfway through the tea when it hit me. I thought about the smile on Leo's face. It seemed – expectant. He remained next to me while I drank, which I thought at first to be odd. Then, gradually I began to feel more than just a little tired. I felt … weird.

I knew then that the tea had been spiked!

Of course the realization of this fact happened about the same time I began to get a little light-headed.

"You drugged me you son of a bit..." Before I could get the rest of the phrase out I felt myself slumping into Leo on my way to la la land. Yep, he had drugged me all right.

I was in a rather dream-like state as he carried me to my room. I knew it was Leo and I knew where he was taking me. I heard him say something about getting me out of the way while they worked on Don. Leo apologized profusely and assured me I'd have the best sleep of my life.

I think I mumbled something about it erasing my memory, too, because I was going to beat him to a pulp when I woke up.

Just before I finally conked out, I vaguely heard him laugh.

Well, I didn't beat Leo up when I woke the next day. Actually it was more like the next night. My headache was gone and I did indeed have the best sleep of my life. It bolstered my resolve to do some serious apologizing to Mikey.

Naturally, he milked it for all he was worth.

"I don't know, Min…you were pretty mean to me. It really hurt – you know – right here!" Mike was pouting just a little as he pointed to his heart. "But, you know what would make me feel better?" he asked me.

I was getting a bit suspicious. He seemed a little too hurt for someone who always dismissed his own brothers' offending remarks.

I stood in the kitchen with him, trying to recover from practically groveling for his forgiveness. I had offered to bake him a batch of lasagna to make up for it. But he waved it away and mumbled something about Pepto Bismol. I wasn't too sure what he had said, but my perplexed expression gave him the chuckles. That was when I realized he was trying to drag out my apologies.

What he said next nearly made me slap him.

"You could give me a big kiss right here" and he pointed to his lips. Well, his muzzle, anyway. Mike and his brothers didn't have lips.

"You know, you're a real 'funny bone', Mike!" I seethed.

I sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and had to smile back at him. He was such a clown. Still, I did not like being toyed with when I was trying to make up for acting like a jerk. It was bad enough they had to knock me out to get me to calm down.

I decided that I would make lasagna anyway. I was half tempted, though, to put some of that pink medicine into it. After all, why bother taking chances, eh?

I stood up out of the chair and went over to their pantry. I found that they had the noodles and the pan, plus the tomato paste and a dented, but not spoiled can of tomato sauce. I checked their spice rack – a shoebox, really – and found they even stocked basil and oregano. Having the basics for the meal I planned on making energized me to ask Mike if he could go to the store.

"Ah…can't do that right yet, Min." he said hesitantly.

"How come?" I asked.

In that moment I felt a tension come over the lair. I looked over at Leo and caught him staring at me. He quickly stood up and went across the tracks to the other side where they had their practice area. He began doing his 'katas'. I always thought of 'cats' whenever the correct term for his exercises came to mind. It always made me smile – except for now.

Raph had been sitting on the couch while Don slept. The moment I inquired why Mike couldn't go topside, he picked up a magazine and practically pushed his face into it. I noticed the magazine was not his usual fair. I thought it very odd.

Splinter was in his room, napping. So he hadn't heard me. Or, at least I didn't think he had.

Not one to ignore an obvious situation, I put my hands on my hips and demanded, "Okay, what's going on? Why can't you go topside, Mike?"

He shuffled his feet uncomfortably and only said, "It's kind of busy up there for the moment." He seemed sad and chagrined.

Right about then Splinter came slowly and stiffly out of his compartment. He motioned for me to come in and I took that as his need to tell me something very important.

"What's happened, now?" I asked myself silently. I could feel the hair on the back of my neck rise in anticipation. There was a sense of anxiety that was slowly building up in the lair and it did not make me feel one bit comfortable.

I took one of the chairs in Splinter's room and sat down slowly. Over the weeks that I had resided with him, I had become familiar with his expressions. His ears and his whiskers were tell-tale signs of what the rat was feeling. Right now they were slightly off to one side and a bit down, as if he had some bad news to tell me. His tail was wrapped around his feet, suggesting what he was going to say was quite serious.

Splinter looked up at me and took one of my hands in his. He said softly, "Mindy, Michelangelo cannot go to Gracie's because…" and here he hesitated. I could detect a bit of sadness in his voice that he didn't want to convey. He swallowed and then continued, "Gracie's Grocers burned down last night. "

I was stunned. How did this happen? "How?" I asked him. I felt my self go dizzy just a little. I grabbed the end table next to me to keep myself upright.

"My sons were out patrolling and had stopped in to get a few supplies before returning back home." Splinter explained, "It was while Michelangelo and Raphael were in the store that they were ambushed. Donatello and Leonardo were busy elsewhere, trying to keep the battle from them. But, we can only assume that our enemy found out about where we shop and it escalated from there."

"But how did the fire start?" I was concerned for Gracie and was going to ask that next. But Splinter answered my first question – and then my second one that had not been voiced.

"One of the members of this assault team set fore to the store to flush my sons out. They escaped unharmed, but I am afraid that the proprietor was not so lucky."

I sat there astonished and overwhelmed. I felt my world spin out of control as the reality of what he had just told me started to sink in.

In desperation, I asked him. "Did she get out alive, Splinter? Please tell me Gracie's life was spared! Oh, God…" My words trailed off as I nearly choked on my emotions.

I could see Splinter's whiskers practically fall flat against his muzzle. I was on the verge of losing it.

My friend simply replied, "No, I am sorry, Mindy. Gracie did not survive."

That's when I lost it completely.